our lovely NEW card range...

Say 'hello' to our lovely new printed cards - we are so excited about them!

Using my original stitched chickens (and introducing a new design too - 'neighbourhood') we set about turning them into a range of cards suitable for all occasions...

From 'I love you' to simply saying 'thank you', to the perfect wedding card 'Mr & Mrs', they arrived with us yesterday and we couldn't be more thrilled!

Each is on lovely matt card and comes with a 100% recycled brown envelope, so they're pretty good for the environment too! And whilst they are shiny and new we are doing a special introductory offer...

You can get the set of 4 for £10 + free p&p! (usual RRP £2.80 each) - this offer is only valid to you lovely lot and to our facebook page followers, so to get your mitts on our new cards, write us a little email to design@charlottemacey.co.uk and we'll pop your cards in the post (whilst stocks last!) x

jubilee egg cosy

Jubilee fever has struck here at CMT... to mark the grand occasion of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, today we launched our 'Jubilee egg cosy'...

Embroidered with a crown on the front and back, as well as the dates '1952' and '2012', and since launching our new egg cosy this morning, we've spent the  rest of the afternoon making some up for a stockist, very exciting!

'Welcome to The British Craft Trade Fair' - the sign at the entrance to the main hall for BCTF, and indeed welcoming it was! Probably one of the most friendly trade fairs that I've done, and quite possibly due to it's size. Smaller than Top Drawer and Home & Gift, BCTF had a much more intimate feel and a more relaxed air about it, which I loved.

I set up the stand on Saturday afternoon, driving up from Gloucestershire in the morning and squeezing in a small coffee break en route.

We launched several new products at the fair (new aprons with pockets, lavender bundles (above) and smaller tea cosies, and got wonderful feedback from the people who stopped to chat and find out more about CMT.

One of the best things about the fair was getting to say hello to my lovely 'fair friends' and meeting new ones too, including Amy from Amos Denton Designs (her pretty ceramic work is above) and Lisa Durrant (wonderful screenprints), both who were staying in the same accommodation as me, and a big thank you to Amy for the delicious evening hot chocolates!

new manilla labels

Last week we set about the task of labelling (slightly more clearly) what our items are, as once they are folded and tied with string, it can be pretty tricky to guess...

So here are the results... our all-new printed labels, at the moment for our cotton napkins and both large and small aprons, and we're pretty pleased with them too :-)

We're off to BCTF (British Craft Trade Fair) in Harrogate on Saturday, which is open Sunday 15th - Tuesday 17th, and hope to have lovely fair news for you when we return.

Until then, have a lovely week!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

(...already eaten one of these this morning...)

My family and I gave each other small Easter gifts, from classic chocolate items, to a small stitched chicken picture for my mum and a hand-knitted chick (not knitted by me though I hasten to add!)

And this week I spotted my first Easter lambs, perfect timing.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter weekend... x

Selvedge Spring Fair

Two trips to London in two weeks and lots of work to attempt to keep up with inbetween has left me a pretty tired girl, so here are a few snaps from the Selvedge Spring Fair yesterday, and I'm off to put my feet up! 

A lovely day and thanks to High Tea of Highgate for warming 

Earl Grey and delicious gluten-free cupcakes.

Wonderful stalls and stallholders at the fair...

My favourite stall of the day... Beyond France. One day half my house will look like this, beautiful linens, and great company too, thanks Maud!

Country Living Spring Fair 2012

We are back from the Country Living Spring Fair, exhausted (hence why it has taken 3 days to get around to writing this post!) but very happy. I was so pleased with how the stand looked and felt very proud as I arrived each morning. It was like having my very own shop, albeit a mini one!

The reactions to my work from visitors to the fair was also wonderful, and I met so many lovely people over the five days, from people visiting the fair, to followers on twitter and lots of already familiar faces too.

After a fantastic 5 days we are now back on home turf, and although London was great, it is good to be home! We are now cracking on with trade orders and re-stocking for our next Spring fair... this Saturday! (31st March) 

We'll be scooting back to the big smoke for the Selvedge Spring Fair, a one day extravaganza, and we're very excited! http://www.selvedge.org/pages/fair.aspx

daffodils

Today's post is quite simply a dedication to the beautiful daffodil. In the midst of 'we-have-about-a-week-to-go-until-Country-Living' stress I took a few photographs of our second bunch of daffodils this year.

Bought with the buds still closed, they opened up today and are my favourite type - washed-out cream with a yellow centre. Subtle, pale and pretty!  

All Hands on Deck!

This week in the studio has been all about starting to get prepared for the Country Living Spring Fair. Not long to go and being a little under the weather last week has not helped my preparation schedule. Fortunately I have a couple of amazing assistants (for when times get particularly busy, like now!) who have had their hands on deck too, and we've started to get things together ready for the '3 week Spring fair marathon' - as I'm fondly beginning to think of it (see previous blog post for our Spring fair schedule). 

We also had a small 'Friday giveaway' at the end of this week over on our facebook page, with the opportunity to win a couple of pairs of tickets to the Country Living Spring Fair Gala Evening on the 21st March. In the next week or so we will also have tickets to the fair up for grabs, so stay tuned! (Complimentary tickets valid every day except Saturday).

Alternatively if you are getting organised, booking train tickets to London and would like to get your ticket to the fair organised now, you can use code EXHCMT to get £1 off your ticket price. We look forward to seeing you there!

Our Spring Fair Schedule

Whilst sewing lots of chickens, eggs and making our NEW wooden bunnies this week, we also have lots of exciting Spring fair announcements...

Spring at the Barn

Saturday 17th March, 10am - 5pm, free admission

Tithe Barn, Mells nr Frome, Somerset, BA11 3PN

Click here for more details and a list of lovely stallholders!

Country Living Spring Fair

21st - 25th March

Business Design Centre, London

If you would like to get an extra £1 off your ticket price, please use the code EXHCMT online or over the phone. http://www.countrylivingfair.com/spring/tickets

The Selvedge Spring Fair

Saturday 31st March, 10am - 5pm

St. Augustine's Church Hall, London, N6 5BB

Click here for more info!

We are so excited about all three of these fairs, so had better crack on with our bunny-making! Happy Sunday x